


Fine Art

by endof_theline



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), MCU, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Barista Bucky Barnes, Demisexual Tony Stark, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Injuries, Professor Tony Stark, Temporary Amnesia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2020-04-06 04:19:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19055116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endof_theline/pseuds/endof_theline
Summary: Tony is a pre-tenure professor at the national defense research institute. His life is a ball of stress until he meets Bucky the barista at the local and remembers that there’s more to life than the next publication, but he might just be able to help with it.





	Fine Art

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SierraNovembr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SierraNovembr/gifts).



At twenty seven years old, Tony’s pretty sure he isn’t meant to have a mid-life crisis yet, but here he was working himself to the bone. He’s a pre-tenure professor for the national defense research institute and he has been years, every paper he publishes isn’t good enough for them apparently, but he knows he’s close, he just needs one more paper to push them over the edge.

Just because Howard, his father, had set up the institute, they had way higher standards for him than the other professors. There’s a lot of pressure on his shoulders to succeed as well, a few of the oldest members of the board knew his father, worked with him even, before his mother and him had died due to his father drink driving. Tony was a known workaholic, always a responsible drinker because of the accident and the fear the same would happen to him and his two best friends were from work as well, he never had a chance away from it all.

Trying to find something to stick, something that grabs his and the board’s attention long enough for Tony to write a paper on it, to create and build it from scratch, he truly needs something amazing this time, something to settle his position here, something to help finally calm his nerves. He doesn’t sleep, either due to working late and through to the next morning or writing notes, writing ideas constantly, laying in bed only to get back up to write something down.

Constantly working past the point of exhaustion.

 

One of his best friends, James Rhodes, works for the military but his main role was working with the researchers find ways to integrate their ideas into the military and then helping to teach the people that would be using the equipment to use it in defense.

It was that man who found Tony trembling and muttering to himself as he tinkered with something that just looked like scrap metal, he slid the metal away from Tony and gently pried the tool out of Tony’s hand before the genius looked up and grinned at the sight of his friend hovering over him.

“Hey Rhodey, thought you were-” Tony waved his hands like he was trying to remind himself.

“Training recruits, yeah I was, but I’m back home for a bit now” He finished Tony’s sentence and ran his fingers through the younger’s hair making him lean into the touch immediately and curl into Rhodey’s side happily “I can feel you shaking, how long have you been going?”

“I don’t remember, but it doesn’t matter because look, look, I’m so close Rhodes. I just gotta figure out these numbers and then I can move on, see just a little more and then I’ll stop” Tony babbled as he jabbed his screen to point at his work, his hands trembling and he yelps when Rhodey grabs his hand to see a big slash on his palm that wasn’t bleeding anymore but had clearly _been_ bleeding recently “Oh? When did that happen?”

“You’re taking a break” Rhodey told him bluntly and hauled him off his stool and to the sink to clean his hand, he felt Tony slump against him and flop against his side exhausted “You need to take a rest, you’re shaking and tired, you didn’t even realise you cut your hand, Tones”

“O-Okay…” Tony mumbled sleepily and just let his best friend guide him wherever he needed to move, letting Rhodes pull him around as Tony fumbled with his jacket.

 

As Tony and Rhodes walked to the closest cafe, Tony started to mumble out the lines of codes that he had been working on, his mind still focused and restless as James kept an arm around him to make sure he didn’t drift off the path.

When they got into the cafe, James walked Tony to a table and dropped him into a seat carefully as the barista who had been hunched over and looked bored out of his mind perked up and watched Tony with careful eyes. The name tag on his shirt read ‘Bucky’ which James was praying was his nickname and understood why he would be so wary of his best friend as Tony was sat at the table, shaking and babbling to himself as his fingers tapped restlessly like he was still at work and was still typing the lines and lines of code he was mumbling about.

“Hey, can we get just two of your strongest coffees? I don’t care what’s in it or what it is, just strong as fuck” Rhodey asked to snap Bucky’s attention back to the more sane looking man and nodded a little stunned still “I know he doesn’t look it right now, but he’s harmless, he’s just overworked and stressed out”

“He looks like he’s gonna cry” Bucky pointed out and Rhodes looked over his shoulder to see that Tony indeed look five seconds away from bursting into tears.

“Yeah… he’s _really_ stressed” Rhodey shrugged and Bucky just nodded slowly before ringing up the man and telling him that he’ll bring the drinks over, Rhodes nodded and walked over to Tony who barely reacted before the older man placed his hand on the other’s to still his drumming fingers “Relax, no more work, I wanna catch up”

“Wh-What do you want to catch up on?” Tony asked slowly and his hazy eyes were slowly dragged up to the man’s face, copying the smile he saw.

They started to chatter away before Bucky carefully carried a tray over and placed the cups down, he looked a little awkward to have to interrupt them “Um, there’s about half an hour before I have to close up tonight, just to let you know”

“No worries man, just kick us out when you need to!” Rhodey chirped making the barista smile gratefully and he nodded before leaving them to talk.

 

Over the half an hour as they sat and drank the coffee, Bucky watched the shakey man slowly calm down and transform back into a normal human. His eyes flick between the people talking and his phone, his friends were texting him rapidly after he stupidly admitted to think the clearly unstable man, once calmed down, looks like a piece of damn fine art sat there in front of him.

“Hey guys, I’m real sorry but I gotta close up, you guys are welcome back anytime and you seem real nice” He calls over to them a little nervous, both men turn around and smiled happily at him.

“No problem man, thanks for letting us stay” Rhodey grins at him as they stand up, Bucky makes a move to come collect their cups but Tony picks them up and carries them carefully over to the counter and put them down in front of him.

“Yeah thanks! The coffee was great by the way and hopefully it’ll be less-” Tony waved his hand around thoughtfully before coming up with the right word “Messy in my head so I can enjoy it more”

“Hopefully you’ll be less messy in the head anyways, you’ll be able to enjoy much more than my coffee that way” Bucky said smoothly making Tony smile sweetly at him, Bucky instantly melted a little for the man before his friend slung his arm over his shoulder “Here, thank you!” Tony gave the barista a $20 note and Rhodey started leading him away so Tony threw a bright grin over his free shoulder at Bucky’s stunned expression.

 

Only two days later as Bucky was laying around the cafe, hoping that anything interesting would happen. Interesting apparently was Tony stumbling into the little coffee shop, mumbling and shaking. Bucky was half tempted to hop the counter and help Tony to a seat before the man was stuttering out an order.

“C-Can I have th-the… the black- th-the coffee?” Tony asked and looked at Bucky like he was praying the man would understand him, he almost had tears in his eyes when Bucky didn’t say anything.

“You want the same thing as last time, blackest coffee we got?” Bucky asked with a soft voice and smiled sweetly when Tony nodded with a soft but weak ‘yeah’ “Alright, you go sit down, Tony, I’ll bring it over” Tony stared at him for a second longer before stumbling over to a seat and dropping himself down, only to start jotting down notes and muttering to himself again.

Bucky made the coffee with ease and placed the mug down in front of him, his eyes flicking down to Tony’s notes. It took him a moment to read and understand what Tony was trying to do, before all of it clicked together and he realised that Tony was trying to invent a new type of shield that could be recalled.

“Holy shit, that’s awesome” Bucky gasps as Tony easily mocks up a new design in seconds and jumps at the sound of Bucky’s voice.

“Y-You think so?” Just from those three words alone Bucky understands Tony a little bit more, he sounds exhausted and stressed and so incredibly high strung that Bucky softened his features and his tone for the still shaking man.

“I really do, what’s it for?” Bucky plopped into the seat beside him as Tony sits back from the notepad with bleary eyes and trembling hands running through messy hair, he spotted the coffee on the table and made grabby hands at it “You really are sleepy today” Bucky chuckled but carefully handed it to the man who gulped down a big mouthful.

“Mhmm, I’m a professor that works at the research institute for national defense, thinking about these because we could train foot soldiers to throw these and use them in close combat too, plus if we can make it out of the material I want it’s completely bulletproof so that they could use them like a wall against weapons” Tony explained in a rush, his words a little jumbled up as he struggles to speak at the same pace his brain was going.

“Oh wow, no wonder you sound so tired, it’s gotta be a lot of hard work” Bucky propped his chin up on his hand with a soft smile on his face, Tony cocked his head to one side as he placed the mug down.

“Don’t you have work to do? Why are you so interested in me?” Tony asked defensively making Bucky recoil and move to stand, Tony’s eyes went wide and he jerked forward to hold Bucky’s wrist “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound so rude, I’m just stressed and tired and- and-” Tony grew self-conscious as he realised what he did and released Bucky’s wrist “...Sorry”

“It’s okay, your head’s just messy… right?” Bucky asked back making Tony smile happily, Bucky gently slid back into the seat with his own smile.

“Right, it’s just gets so much in the workshop and I need to escape because everything gets so messy around me and in my head but I forget to leave and I have the board breathing down my back, I’m pre-tenure right now and I’m working on paper after paper trying to get them to approve anything, to like anything I do so I can’t stop working because the second I stop, is the second I’m not using my brain and Edwards is already going to be on my case” Tony rambled rapidly, tears coming to his eyes until Bucky reached across the table and held Tony’s hand gently and squeezed it to try and provide any comfort he could “I’m so tired, Bucky”

“I can tell and you know, if you ever start getting like this again-. No, before you get like this again, you bring your laptop or whatever and you can sit here and work, some different air and different walls will help break up the cycle” Bucky encouraged him and squeezed his hand again making the professor laugh wetly.

“Thank you, Bucky”

 

It only took Tony a day to come back to the cafe with his laptop and a nervous look in his eyes, but Bucky just smiled at him and started to make the bitter drink and he just cocked an eyebrow at the man when he asked for a little milk in his coffee.

“I only drink jet black coffee when I’m really bad” Tony shrugged with pink across his cheeks, Bucky nodded calmly and slid the finished drink over to him “Thanks, is it okay if I just stay here for a bit and work?”

“Course it is, told you the other day it was fine, didn’t I?” Bucky drawled in a Brooklyn accent that only seems to come out every so often that made Tony smile thankfully and set up near the counter so that he was still close to Bucky and could ask him for more coffee or talk to him if the barista wanted someone to talk to.

Tony had to admit that even only a few hours into working at the tiny coffee shop, it was a lot more beneficial than working constantly in the lab. He wasn’t getting distracted by the different things to build and invent when his mind wandered or the people that enjoyed wandering into his lab while he was trying to sit and write his ideas down or make a start on a paper. He let himself take in the different smells and sights, letting his mind wander off for a little while or to take a break to enjoy the coffee and look at the other people in the cafe.

“Eat up, genius, you’ve been here almost all day and haven’t eaten at all” Bucky put a plate down beside Tony’s hand and the man lifted his head enough to stop the sandwich in front of him making him confused.

“Thanks?” Tony pulled the plate over to him and sniffed at the food “Why?”

“You said you get caught up in your work a lot, don’t want you going hungry, doll” Bucky shrugged like it was no big deal and Tony tried to hide his flattered smile behind his food as he took his first bite, his pained stomach settling at last. Bucky grinned over the counter as he watched Tony dive into his sandwich like he hasn’t eaten in days, only putting it down to grab his coffee and gulp down a few mouthfuls before going back to his lunch greedily “You really were hungry, weren’t you, sugar?”

Tony’s cheeks went red as he ducked his head “Yeah, I- I forgot to eat this morning” He admitted shyly making Bucky tut and roll his eyes at him before he jerked into action and scrawled down something on the back of the receipt paper, he gave the slip to Tony making him frown a little as he looked up confused.

“My number-” Bucky winked with a flirty smile “-just in case you ever wanna text your order ahead of time, or just to text me at all, y’never know”

“Oh, okay, thanks!” Tony chirped happily and immediately pulled his phone out and started to text the number Bucky have just given him, only a few seconds later Bucky’s phone chimed with a text message ‘Tony :D’

“Next time, just tell me if you haven’t eaten anything, okay?” Bucky smirked at him making Tony tsk and roll his eyes before grinning back and nodding, letting Bucky rush to serve the new man who walked in.

 

Tony quickly fell in love with working in the peaceful cafe, talking to Bucky as he worked about anything their minds came to. The days where Tony was stuck in the institute, he found himself missing Bucky terribly and he would reach forward to grab his coffee cup that wasn’t there. Rhodey had visited him a couple times and worried beforehand that Tony would be the trembling, mumbling man from a week ago, but everytime he came to see the genius he was looking good and there was usually some form of evidence of food on the table. He definitely noticed how Tony’s phone was sat on the table and lit up every time after Tony sent off a text, it wasn’t hard to guess that the person blowing up Tony’s phone with texts was the reason he looked so normal.

Tony had taken Rhodes back to the cafe and it all clicked into place as he watched Bucky flirt with his best friend who seemed completely oblivious to the barista’s advances. Rhodey tried to hide his shock when Tony started to talk about his ideas and inventions to Bucky, used to the man never mentioning them to anyone who wasn’t himself, Pepper or other professors at the institute. The fact Bucky was able to keep the conversation going and ask questions about the different subjects, told Rhodey Tony’s feelings as clear as day and this ‘Bucky’ was quickly becoming one of Tony’s favourite people.

“You’ve seen my work, I’d love to see you in action some time” Bucky grinned at him and Tony’s eyes went wide in excitement.

“Really? Because you could definitely come with me sometime, when are you free?” Tony quickly rambled out making Bucky smile even more and Rhodey just rolled his eyes “I can make time tomorrow or friday and the weekend, there’s always next week too”

Bucky’s head snapped up when he hear the door open and noticed his colleague come walking in and instantly smirked at him as she immediately knew who he was talking to, his cheeks going a little pink which just confirmed her thoughts “Hey Nat, you taking charge now?”

“Sure am, Jamie” She laughed at his scowl and Tony’s eyes lit up even more than they had been “You must be Tony, James has told me a lot about you”

“Yeah, I’m Tony, it’s nice to meet you!” He chirped as he stood up to shake her hand, Natasha smiled sweetly and shook his hand.

“You too, I’m Natasha, it’s nice to put a face to the name and stories, James tells me you’re a bit of a genius” She flirted a little and barely glanced at the glaring Bucky behind her as Rhodey was trying hard not to laugh at his clueless friend and the man who seemed to be getting possessive of him.

“I’m free now if you want, Tony” Bucky cut in making Natasha giggle a little as Tony’s attention snapped to him before his eyes flicked to Rhodey and frowned guilty.

“It’s okay, I’m going to stay and have a drink, you go show off for Bucky” Rhodey waved him off as said man stood up and darted out back with Natasha so they could hand over “You really like him, huh?”

“Yeah! He’s a really good friend, you don’t mind me leaving, do you?” He asked insecurely and easily leaned into his friend’s chest when he opened his arms for a hug, Tony cuddled into him and held him tight “Love you, Honeybear”

“Love you too, Tones, that’s why we’re best friends” He ruffled Tony’s hair playfully making him whine and push him away as he quickly tried to fix his hair, Bucky laughing at them as he strolled in. No apron, a different shirt and a message bag slung over him with a red star printed on the front, Tony grinned at him as Bucky shook his head at the pair “Tony, play nice, remember other people’s brains don’t run as fast as yours does” Tony stuck out his tongue at the older man in response before sniffing and flouncing out, Bucky looked between them confused before Rhodey prompted him “That means to follow him”

“Oh!”

 

The trip to the institute was filled with jokes and stories about their lives and their friends, they spoke like old friends catching up while at the same they spoke like new lovebirds.

When they get to the institute, Tony breezes through security and chatters to the guard ‘Happy’ excitedly and didn’t give enough time to Bucky to tell him about the metal detectors before they were going off and Happy was stepping up to pat him down.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know, can I?” Bucky guestered to his bag and Happy crossed his arms, stood in front of Tony protectively as Bucky slipped the bag off his shoulder and dropped it to strip his long sleeved shirt off, his left arm was a complete prosthetic limb.

Happy dropped his arms and gave Bucky a soft smile, noticing the dogtags in Bucky’s tray of metal and electronics “Not a problem, pal, is it okay if I still run the scanner over your legs?”

“Y-Yeah, that’s fine” Bucky was red from embarrassment as he slipped his shirt back on and waited for Happy to search him, he spotted Tony smiling at him like he wasn’t bothered by it at all.

“If Bucky’s ever trying to get to me in the lab, Happy, let him in” Tony mentions casually and the guard grins proudly as he nods, giving a sly wink to Bucky as they pass through.

The walk to Tony’s lab was short and it was easy to identify as it had a plack on the door that read ‘Professor Anthony Edward Stark’, there was also a ‘Danger: Genius At Work’ sticker below it that Tony claimed Rhodey stuck there as a joke.

 

In the workshop was like stepping into a completely new world, the room was filled with mess and clutter as well as hard work and stacks of notes everywhere. It summed up how Bucky assumed Tony’s brain would look like and was quickly told by said man that this was actually neat for him so Bucky quickly made the adjustment that this is half as bad as Tony’s mind.

Bucky was granted a little tour around the lab and was terrified by a little robot that bleeped at him, Tony explains, amused by Bucky, that this is his robot DUM-E who he made at MIT when he was younger on a dare. He tells Bucky all about JARVIS who he’s working on at home very slowly and how it would be great for JARVIS to meet new and different types of people.

Tony gets so caught up explaining a project to Bucky that he actually gets swept up into working on it with an ease that almost startled Bucky, the barista chuckled happily and started to pick up the litter and trash around the workshop before picking up tools that he knew roughly where they went back. He watched Tony work for a while to learn where more tools went and even started to file Tony’s scattered notes before the genius speaks up and tell him to settle so Bucky perches on the bench Tony’s working on and asks him to explain his work.

“Tony, you know you shouldn’t be- oh! Hello Bucky” Rhodey went to scold Tony for working so late as usual and then spotted the barista sitting on the desk as they chattered away between themselves, the talking halted to a stop when they saw Rhodes and stared wide eyed like two kids in trouble.

“Look, Honeybear, Bucky cleaned up the lab for me!” Tony chirped proudly as he swung his arm out and DUM-E span around in circle as beeped as if copying Tony’s gesture.

“So he did” Rhodey smiled at his friend who quickly went back to work before looking stern as he said “Bucky, a word outside” He turned on his heel and walked back out the room, leaving no room for arguments so Bucky hopped off the table and rushed to follow Rhodes outside. The door shutting when he left the room to show a very stern and intimidating looking Rhodey.

“Look, if you’re only chasing Tony for sex, you can stop now” Rhodey snapped at him making Bucky startle “He’s Demisexual so he won’t even think about sexual attraction before you form an actual emotional connection with him and if you’re still just here to have sex with him after that long then you will break his heart and I’ll have to break your legs”

“W-Well I don’t want that” Bucky chuckles awkwardly as he rubs his neck, eyes full of nerves “I, um, actually really like him, he’s the first person I’ve liked for a really long time really. I just- I don’t think he sees me in the same light, y’know?”

Rhodey examines him for a moment, eyes raking over him judgmentally before nodding once “Tony’s a good man, my best friend and I love him like a brother, but good lord is the man clueless. Tony’s so clueless that he probably doesn’t realise he likes you yet, it’ll hit him all at once and he’ll be head over heels for you… If you want a hint that Tony likes a person, he’s very affectionate and a little touch starved, if he’s close and in your personal space then he likes you even subconsciously”

It is that moment that sets Bucky’s mission into action, to get Tony to realise his own feelings no matter what.

 

A whole month came and went, Tony would visit Bucky in the cafe and work on his paper in a space he felt relaxed and comfortable, where someone would also be looking out for him as well so he didn’t have to remember food and drink as he tried desperately to focus on the work in front of him. Often, he would invite Bucky to the workshop after his shift so that they could hang out there too, Bucky loved playing with DUM-E as Tony worked and he didn’t mind distracting the young and curious robot so that he wouldn’t disturb Tony’s work. There were days that Bucky had off and decided to see Tony at his work, texting him to ask if it was a good time and also what he would like to drink or eat. The texts between the pair of them flowed constantly as they quickly started to text each other normally, Bucky knew Tony had definitely relaxed with him when he sent him a picture of a grumpy looking puppy he saw with the caption ‘It’s you!’, only for Bucky to send back a picture of a cute, playful kitten with it’s own caption ‘Found you!’.

Between the constant visits to each other’s workspace, sometimes using the other’s as his own workspace in the case of Tony, both Bucky and Tony relaxed with each other and in their separate lives. Rhodey noticed how Tony’s chats had started leaning more and more away from work, not everything on his mind was just work and his paper and getting tenure. Natasha and Steve had noticed how Bucky had dropped some of the tension he had carried for so long after he came back from his shipment with one less arm, he had also been more caring towards his plastic and metal limb which they assumed was thanks to the engineer.

 

The fact that Tony and Bucky are constantly texting each other was the main reason, Bucky worried when Tony doesn’t respond to his texts all day. Tony always texted him back, even if he was really busy Tony would text him to tell him as such. The genius doesn’t pick up when Bucky calls on his break either and Bucky starts to panic about seeming clingy, but he also worries that something’s happened to Tony, or maybe he’s lost interest in Bucky like the soldier had always assumed he would… Though that one didn’t make too much sense as they had been planning to go to lunch tomorrow and Tony had been really excited to show Bucky his favourite dinner, so why would Tony suddenly lose interest in him?

 

Bucky decides to just check in after his shift, if Tony’s fed up with him then he won’t look like an idiot when he turns up to the dinner and get stood up by a friend. His hopes were that Tony was just really busy or sleepy, maybe Tony’s phone had just run out of charge or he had lost his phone as well.

Happy shakes his head when Bucky asks if he has seen the man today which seemed stranger still as Tony normally comes out the lab to greet Happy most days, he gets through security and barely resists the urge to run to Tony’s workshop but he still jogs down the halls - he wouldn’t admit it but the closer to Tony’s door he got, the faster he ran.

He swings the door open and his feet falter because there’s Tony, but it’s all wrong. Because there’s Tony on the floor with a deep cut that looks as though it had been bleeding for a while on his forehead and signs on an explosion on his desk and his clothes, smokey marks looking like spiderwebs on his desk and crawling up to his face on his clothes. Bucky pushes himself in and he runs to Tony, hands fumbling to find a pulse and the tight grip on his heart relaxes when he finds a weak, but steady pulse in his wrist.

“HELP! CAN I GET SOME HELP IN HERE?!” Bucky screamed towards the wide open door as he stayed beside Tony, not wanting to disturb the man in case he just hurts him more. A ginger haired girl gasped in shock as she ran around the corner, her hands pulling out her phone in an instant and called an ambulance “Come on, Tony, you’re okay, you’ll be okay” He whispered to the slightly younger man, carefully brushing his hair away from the sluggishly bleeding wound, he noticed the ginger rush out and back in so Bucky assumes she’s told someone to meet the ambulance she called for him.

“What happened?” The girl asked as she went to kneel down, Bucky silently held out his hand to stop her before brushing away the glass on the floor with his prosthetic hand so she wouldn’t accidentally get hurt as well “Thanks”

“S’Okay, I don’t know what happened to him. He hasn’t been answering me all day and I was worried about him so I came to check on him, he was like this when I got here a couple minutes before you came in” Bucky mumbled anxiously, memories flashing in his head and he jerked from the girl’s touch when she gently put her hand on his shaking shoulder “Think his was working with something and it blew up, possibly what caused the wound”

“Sounds like you’re right, I’m Pepper by the way, I work admin here” She introduced herself and Bucky recognized the name instantly, Tony had told him that she was one of his best friend’s and that she also helps him writes his papers on time since as much as he loves doing the science and all of the practical work, getting it done on paper was definitely the hardest part of it.

“Tony’s told me about you, I’m Bucky, I work at the little cafe a few minutes from here” He finally looks up to her and gives her a little bit of a nervous smile, Pepper didn’t want to mention that she had been told about him by both Tony and Rhodey and she could easily the feelings Tony was so clueless about written on his face as Bucky worried about him.

When the ambulance crew arrive, everything moves so quickly it’s all a blur when Bucky tries to think about it later. He and Pepper were asked all sorts of questions that didn’t help with his rising panic, it feels like he blinks and Tony’s being rushed away from him on a stretcher with Pepper running besides him as he thinks ‘Why does she get to go with him and not me?’ before he realises that Pepper is a lot calmer than he is and has known Tony a lot longer than he has. Once everyone clears out, Bucky takes a second and spots Tony’s phone sat on the desk so he fumbles with the device for a moment and before he realises it, he’s called Rhodey.

“Hello? Tony, are you okay?” Came the semi-familiar voice.

“It’s Bucky, Tony’s- Tony’s in the ambulance, there’s been an accident” He manages to force out his mouth “He- I came to see him and he was on the floor, everything happened really fast. Pepper, she’s with him, I don’t know where they’re going Rhodey, I- I’m sorry I-I don’t know why I called you, I don’t-”

“It’s okay Bucky, Tony’s going to be just fine. He’s had lab accidents before and he’s bounced back from them just fine, I need you to try and take a deep breath for me” Rhodey coaxed the man who sounded like he was either about to dive straight into a panic attack or burst into tears, Bucky focused on his voice and tried to calm his breathing right back down “Once you’re off the phone with me, I want you to call someone to pick you up from here and wait with Happy. Give Happy Tony’s phone and Pepper or I’ll pick it up from him later, okay? Tony’s going to be okay, you’re just fine, you’ve done the right thing”

“O-Okay, thanks Rhodey” Bucky sniffled a little and started to walk towards Happy, the man giving him a warm smile as soon as he spots the man walking towards you “Tony’s got my number, you’ll keep me updated w-won’t you?”

“Of course, Bucky, I’ll text you as soon as we know what’s going on”

“Thank you Rhodes”

“Thank you for caring about him, Bucky”

Bucky regretfully hands the phone to Happy and sends off a text to Steve who drives probably way too fast to pick up his best friend and runs past Happy to pull Bucky into a bone crushing hug which just breaks the dam and Bucky folds into the comforting hold as he lets the tears slip down his cheeks.

“I need him to be okay, Stevie” he whispers like a long kept secret and Steve just holds him tighter, closer.

“I know Buck, he will be” Steve whispers just as quiet, he nods to Happy and gently leads the man out of the institute, he pulls him along even when Bucky’s feet falter, unwilling to leave Tony’s messy workshop.

 

It’s two days later, Bucky’s sat by Tony’s side in the hospital and resisting the urge to hold Tony’s hand like he had seen Rhodey and Pepper do. Bucky also realised that Happy and Tony must be closer than he thought as he saw the security guard leaving Tony’s room with a sad expression on his face.

Bucky had to hold in the gasp and tries not to jump out his seat when he hears Tony’s weak groan escape his throat, his eyes blinked open slowly as they drifted over to Bucky who had sat up like a shot with a big smile on his smile.

“Where am I?” Tony croaked out and thankfully accepted the cup of water that Bucky helped him drink, his rasping breath sounding clearly almost instantly afterwards.

“You’re at the hospital, Tony, there was an explosion in your lab” Bucky explains calmly, trying to not worry the man who was back to looking around confused and a little dazed before he nodded and looked back to Bucky with a thoughtful frown on his face.

“Okay, who are you?” He asked a little panicked making Bucky’s heart lurched and stared at him for a moment before Bucky quickly realises that Tony’s very serious and seems to have memory loss and calls in the doctor or a nurse to come look at the genius who was just looking around and at himself curiously before asking innocently:

“Are you my boyfriend?”

Bucky spluttered for a second before answering “N-No, we, uh, we’ve been getting closer but n-not quite dating” Bucky stammered out making Tony smirk and tilt his head just a little, Bucky’s cheeks going bright red before the nurse and doctor rush in and start testing Tony.

Bucky stepped out to ring Pepper and Rhodey who were stuck at work to tell them that Tony’s awake but seems to have lost his memory and that he’ll text the details as and when he knows what’s going on which they both seem equally worried and thankful about.

“Sir, it seems as though Anthony has temporary amnesia, it’s fairly common with head wounds and it’ll most likely all come back to him in the next day or so. If takes longer then feel free to bring him back in and we’ll run some more serious tests, but for now we’re happy to release him in about an hour’s time. We just want to monitor him to make sure nothing else will occur” Tony’s doctor explains to him before letting him back into Tony’s room, Tony was now sat up against the bed which had been moved for him and a nurse was removing all the things that were attached to him.

Bucky couldn’t help notice how Tony’s eyes always drifted back to him, checking him out or just looking at him thoughtfully and tilting his head at him curiously until the nurse left them alone and Tony requested Bucky to tell him all about himself again. It passes the time easily and a part of Bucky knows that Tony should probably learn about his own history before learning Bucky’s again, but he pushed that away and laughed with Tony like it was the first time they had met again.

“Can we go home yet?” Tony asks hopefully, his eyes shining making Bucky smile sweetly but rub the back of his neck a little awkwardly.

“I don’t actually know where you live, we’ve only hung out at where we work” Bucky explains a little embarrassed that Tony and himself have never hung out anywhere but their workspaces, they were so close and Bucky had fallen head over heels for the genius.

“We work together?” Tony chirped excitedly and Bucky blushed pink again at how happy Tony sounded at the thought of them working side by side.

“No, I, um, I work at a cafe and you’re a professor at a research institute” Bucky says as he texts the group for Tony’s address so that he can take Tony home instead of making him wait around until Pepper or Rhodes gets off work.

“Damn, I must be smart!” He exclaims in shock which makes Bucky laugh at the comment straight away because yes Tony’s smart, Tony’s a genius who can’t see what’s in front of him or sense his own emotions half the time.

“Oblivious but a genius” Bucky presses his lips into a line and nods which makes Tony cock his head to one side curious but Bucky’s text tone pings which a message back from Pepper, she tells him the address for Tony’s house and where a spare is hiding so that Bucky can get in. The message straight after makes him frown a little as she says that she’ll leave work early so he’s not stuck alone with Tony all day. Bucky is half tempted to tell her it’s not a chore to look after Tony but doesn’t want to risk anything with her or with looking after Tony so he signs Tony out quickly and helps him get to the car with Tony flirting with him playfully from the hospital desk, to the car and all the back home.

 

When they get to Tony’s house it forces to remind Bucky that Tony is a lot better off than himself as he searches for the key in the slightly dying flower bed by the door. Bucky helps Tony settle into his house, letting him wander around for a bit before getting him set up on the couch with food and drink, the television playing in the background as Bucky tides up around the house. Tony seems to work and live amongst mess constantly and it bothers Bucky a little that Tony doesn’t seem to care about the space or possibly and a little more likely, he had been working too much to realise it.

“Your arm looks stiff” Tony points out and notices how Bucky flinches at the observation as he hadn’t told Tony about his prosthetic again, Bucky had been hoping that the memory of his fake arm would return before Tony noticed it getting sore and stiff.

“I haven’t been able to take my prosthetic off for a while, it’s a bit sore is all” Bucky tries to brush off and mention it casually so that Tony wouldn’t freak out about it either.

“Take it off then” Tony shrugged and after a moment, Bucky slid the arm off and cleaned up his arm and his shoulder, Tony immediately holds his hands out for Bucky who inches closer before the genius huffs and pulls him down onto the couch with him so that he was beside the side where Bucky had lost his arm “Does it hurt to touch?”

“Not anymore, when I first lost it it definitely hurt, but it’s fine now. Why?” He managed to say before Tony flops against him and cuddled into his side “O-Oh?!”

“This okay?” Tony asks as he looked up to him through his lashes which makes Bucky’s heart race and flutter, he prays that Tony can’t feel how bad his heart was beating or hear his breathing is faster than normal either.

“Yup!” He squeaks a little anxiously, Tony cuddles into his side and wraps his arms around him so he could be plastered up against him. They start to watch the film before Tony gets wriggly and curious so Bucky answers all of the questions he can and having to explain that he doesn’t know everything about Tony and they’ll have to wait for Pepper to get her to answer a lot of his questions.

 

Pepper comes in much later to see Bucky and Tony curled up on the sofa talking softly, she’s surprised to see the prosthetic on the table but soon sees Bucky sliding out from Tony and offering a hand to her in greeting. She smiles and quickly accepts, already fond of the man Tony had been chattering about after not really getting to meet him over Tony’s unconscious body, she easily sees what Tony likes about the slightly awkward but still oddly confident soldier.

“I can leave if you want, I mean you’ve known Tony a lot longer than me so I get it, I just-” Bucky tries to ask but gets cut off as Tony grabs Bucky’s hand and pulls him back down to the sofa, cuddling up to him almost immediately. Pepper and Bucky sit either side of Tony after convincing him to let go of Bucky, the condition being that Bucky had to swap sides so he could hug Tony while they talk. They helped fill in the gaps of his memories and more and more of it started to come back as they shared stories, the spaces were filled enough that Tony almost knew it was Rhodey walking through the door when he arrived.

The two long term friends of Tony tell stories of him, Pepper going back to when Tony started at the institute and Rhodes going back to MIT. Rhodey had sat in the armchair opposite them and teased Tony about curling up to Bucky, making a point of reminding Bucky about the shovel talk and what he said about an affectionate Tony. Bucky soaked it all up and laughed along with them, trying to ignore the burning question in his head which he refused to bring up until Tony was back with all his memories.

 

It takes a few days after Tony’s back to normal for them to meet up again, Bucky’s too awkward after what had happened and worried that Tony didn’t want to see him anymore while Tony was trying to catch up on lost time both at home and at work with his paper. This time Tony recognizes when he’s getting burnt out for one of the first times and calls Bucky to meet at a diner, claiming to be starving and lonely.

Tony proudly tells Bucky that this is favourite diner, the one he had wanted to bring Bucky for lunch before the accident. They chat like before and Bucky fills in how he had found Tony and the genius reaches across the table to hold Bucky’s hand as he noticed how shakey Bucky’s voice had gotten, they laugh a little about how awed Tony was about his life, about how he had become who he was and joke about how clueless he was in the hospital. Bucky’s laugh grew strained before he gave in, he had to ask, he had to know.

“At the hospital, one of the first questions you asked me was if I was your boyfriend. Do you like me, y’know, in that way?” Bucky asks awkwardly and cringes almost immediately as the words fall from his mouth, Tony’s face goes red in an instant and starts to stammer panicked. Bucky reaches over and puts his hand on top of their joined hands which helps calm the stammering a little bit and reassures the man. Bucky quickly recognizes that Tony is still too flustered and overworked to give a proper response that will actually make sense so he steps up once again as he gives Tony a big, bright, brilliant smile “Would you like to go on a date, is what I’m trying to ask?”

“Yes! Yes I would lov-like! I would like that very much, thank you” Tony blurted out in a rush, Bucky starts to laugh which Tony lets out a breath at and starts to laugh along as well, the tension bleeding out quickly so that they could enjoy the rest of the meal.

 

They end up going to a restaurant for their first date, both of them teasing each other about finally seeing each other out of jeans and t-shirts so when both men turned up in suits, they couldn’t help but stare at each other for a second.

“You look amazing” Tony breathes out at last, the first one of them to break the silence which makes Bucky smile a little shyly but soon start smirking all the same.

“You look pretty fantastic all dolled up yourself, Tony” Bucky winked as he let his Brooklyn drawl slip a little more than usual to see Tony’s cheeks go pink, he slipped his hand into Tony’s and tugged him into the fancy looking restaurant. Tony looked completely in his element as he spoke to the waiter and walked around while Bucky almost felt like a kid walking behind his mum after being told not to touch anything, fearing that he’d break something. They got seated and were given menus that Bucky tried not to cry at, he barely recognized half the words let alone dishes and the prices of some full meals were like a quarter of his rent. Tony must have spotted the way Bucky’s shoulders curled in on himself and he ducked his head as Tony cocked his head to one side and looked over him.

“You okay, Buck?” He asked, putting the menu down to prompt the other man whose hand was going white with his tight grip, he reached across and brushed his fingers across the back of his tensed hand to reassure him briefly.

“Promise you won’t laugh?” Bucky muttered quietly and lowered the menu just enough to see Tony nodding and he felt Tony’s little finger loop around his own “I don’t know what half of this is”

“Oh Bucky, I’m sorry I forget this isn’t normal. I used to come here a lot with my parents when I was younger and I bring Pepper here a lot too. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad” Tony frowned and took Bucky’s hand to squeeze it and rub his thumb against his hand, Bucky smiled a little in response and shrugged.

“S’okay, just got to give me a little help, doll” Bucky gave a smile and Tony just slid his chair forward and pushed Bucky’s menu down flat before pointing to each and every different option and telling him what they were like and if Tony liked or dislike them as well. By the time the waiter came back around, Tony knew what both of them wanted and had paired a wine that Bucky had helped with to go with their food.

“You look really uncomfortable though” Tony muttered after the waiter walked away from them, Bucky gives a small smile and a half hearted laugh.

“I come from a bad part of Brooklyn, I used to skip meals to let my sisters eat, my best pal, Steve, was worse off than me so I would sneak out at night with my food to give to him” Bucky explains quietly which makes Tony’s eyes drop to the table as he listens to Bucky “Stevie, he was sick, real sick, and there were days we didn’t think he’d make it through the night. His dad ran off when he was born an’ his Ma was a nurse but she weren’t allowed to work with him, I was all he had so I had to look after him. I ain’t used to all this like you are”

“Fuck Bucky, I’m so sorry, you’re so sweet to look after your family that way. If I had known this would have made you uncomfortable I would have taken you somewhere else” Tony’s shoulders slumped guiltily as Bucky held his hand tighter and tugged it gently to get him to look back up at him.

“I weren't telling you to make you feel bad, honey. The time I get to pick where we go, but you tell me first where you wouldn’t want to go so this doesn’t happen again, okay?” Bucky smiles brightly at him which jostles out a laugh of Tony as he nodded happily “Lemme start, I ain’t used to fancy places and I’m no good anywhere where people are hurt or there’s gunfire, same goes for films with a lot of shooting - can’t watch them at all”

“My accident must’ve shaken you up more than Happy said then” Tony sighed while the other man’s cheeks went pink in embarrassment.

“Y-Yeah, it did. I was really scared about you, Tony, but Rhodey calmed me down over the phone after they took you. I hope I didn’t freak Rhodes out too much with me freaking out” Bucky went to let go of Tony but found himself unable as the younger man kept hanging onto him tightly.

“Rhodey just said he was happy you called him, I’m not sure if he meant because of me or you, or both of us, but he was really thankful about it” Tony explained easily making the other beam back at him, their waiter came back to pour their drinks “I’m glad we got to do this”

“Me too, I’ve wanted to do this for so long” Bucky cooed softly making Tony blush sweetly, the slight scar obvious above Tony’s eyebrow “Your house had some real pieces of fine art, but I think your the finest one”

“God Buck, that was so cheesy!” Tony’s blush only deepened however making Bucky grin with a proud look on his face “Is that I could expect now? Really cheesy pick up lines”

“Well if you blush as pretty as you are right now, I might never stop, sugar” His drawl had taken over his voice which successfully made Tony even redder “You are pretty, dollface”

“And you are very handsome, but you don’t have to flirt with me every second” Tony teased but Bucky dismissed him with a soft laugh.

“Oh I think I do” He grinned as their food was placed down in front of them by the waiter, Bucky could swear that he looks more and more pissed off every time he came around.

Their meal went great, Bucky ended up really enjoying the fancy restaurant and his fear about paying for the meal was washed away as Tony straight up refused to let Bucky even pull his wallet out. The comparison being that Tony was going to come back to Bucky’s to watch a film with him, it was a bit of a fight and Tony was a little hesitant but Bucky quickly realised it was a joke and Tony almost ran to his car to be able to go to Bucky’s apartment with him.

 

Bucky stopped Tony before letting him in to apologize for it not being as nice of a place as Tony is used to but the genius just sprawled across the couch lazily with just ‘comfy’ being his only statement making Bucky laugh and relax back into his own home. Bucky finds a shitty film that Tony immediately wants to watch so he flicks it on and Tony whines as he holds out his hands.

“Would you be okay with me taking my arm off again, sweet thing?” Bucky asks as he stays away from the sofa and Tony until he stands up and brings the bigger man into his arms, he feels Tony nod against his chest “You kinda got to get off me so I can take it off first” Tony shook his head and held the bottom of his shirt and looked up to him for permission, Bucky nodded slowly and let Tony peel the shirt off him and revealed the mess of scars across his chest stemming from his shoulder “It ain’t the nicest to look at”

“No, but it shows that you’re strong and how brave you are” Tony ran his fingers over the messy scars and rested his head down over Bucky’s heart, letting him hear the quick heart beats. Bucky made quick work of taking his arm off and let Tony take it off him, he had to blink back tears as he saw how carefully Tony moved with it and gently placed it down. He grabbed the wipes that Bucky pointed to, carefully cleaning the arm down before coming over to Bucky and raising an eyebrow at Bucky, getting another nod in response, he started to clean up Bucky’s shoulder.

“Thank you, sweetheart, you’re very kind to me” Bucky brushed Tony’s hair away from his face sweetly before he let himself be tugged down onto the sofa and curled up against by Tony who seemed content to nest on his body. So content in fact that after a while of them talking softly and watching the film, Tony slips asleep with his head in Bucky’s lap making him smile softly as he pulls the blanket off the back of the couch and wrap it around Tony’s sleeping form. It didn’t take long for Bucky to fall asleep with Tony, head falling back against the couch as he kept his hand resting on Tony’s shoulders.

 

Bucky and Tony go on more and more dates, those dates mostly being Bucky bringing Tony takeout to either his lab or his house so that they can still spend time together even while Tony’s working, he’s getting so very close to finishing the damn paper that he doesn’t want to stop writing in fear of not picking it back up again. They finally get Tony to meet Steve and both men instantly form a fast friendship with each other, Steve told Tony all the embarrassing stories Bucky let him before clamping a hand over the blonde’s mouth and Tony loved watching the two men fight and bicker like brothers, loved seeing how at ease Bucky suddenly became with him.

Bucky spends a lot of his time around Tony when he’s not working, reminding the genius to eat or drink or sleep. He knows he should probably mind that he’s almost like Tony’s babysitter rather than the person dating him, but the look on Tony’s face when he finished the paper was worth it as was the first kiss Tony gave him soon after.

Bucky kisses him ‘for luck’ after Tony gets the paper back from his editor and they read through it together curled up on the sofa, they both approve of the paper and the changes that were made before hitting send together to the board for review. If they dislike Tony’s new paper then he’ll have to start all over again, but if it’s accepted then he’ll finally be granted tenure after years and years of work.

 

Tony comes home from the institute looking upset two weeks from when he had sent out the paper and Bucky knew it had to have been the meeting he had today, he had to assume that it was about Tony’s paper and he hadn’t been allowed to call or text him all day. Bucky had been at Tony’s waiting for him as per his request, his leg had been bouncing all the time.

Tony whimpers as he flops into Bucky’s chest and wraps himself around him tightly as he continues to sniffle upset, Bucky’s fully ready to suggest beer, shitty films and good takeout food for the rest of the night when Tony looks up to him with tears in his eyes.

“I-I got tenure!” Tony starts to sniffle before ended up cheering, it takes Bucky’s brain a second to compute what the genius had even said but as soon as it registers Bucky pulls him into a tight hug and kisses him hard.

“Well done, doll, I’m so proud of you, you’re so smart and wonderful” Bucky praises him over and over again as he peppers kisses all over his face making Tony giggle happily “And we did say once you have more time, we could maybe get a little more serious” Bucky teases but Tony starts nodding his head furiously “Wait, yes?”

“If you’re ready, I want this, I want you” Tony nodded and rests his hands on Bucky’s hips with a smile on his face.

“Honey, I’ve been ready for a real long time, I’ve just been waiting on the day you were ready and if you are, doll, I’m so ready for you” Bucky rushes out as he holds Tony close to him, not wanting to let go of him yet but also not wanting to pull him closer.

“I’m ready Buck, I want today to be special for so many reasons” Tony nods once more and squeaks before laughing as Bucky sweeps him up into his arms “I want to have sex with my new boyfriend on the day I got my tenure”

“Mmn, I like the sound of that” Bucky hums lowly into his ear before laughing as he pushes Tony’s back against the wall in between two pieces of art “You are the finest piece of art work on this wall, dollface”

“God, you suck! Put me down” Tony smacked his shoulder offended, failing to ignore Bucky working hard to leave a bruise on his neck, letting out a breathy noise as his head tips back.

“I sure do, honey, lemme take you to bed and show you just how well I suck” Bucky winks as he carries Tony to their bedroom, kissing up and down his neck before kicking the door shut behind them with a soft laugh in his throat.

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope you enjoy this! I'm sorry it's a little short and there might be a couple of mistakes here and there, but it's the first thing I've managed to finish writing in months!
> 
> Feedback is always welcome!


End file.
